I am delighted to write to you for the first time as President of the Radcliffe Choral Society for the 2010-2011 academic year. After a rigorous audition process, we have welcomed twenty-four new members to the choir this fall and are starting strong with fifty-six members under the baton of our new director, Andrew Clark. We began our year with the annual RCS-Glee Club retreat to Hingham, MA, which was a great opportunity to bond with each other and the Glee Club, both musically and socially. The weekend culminated in our first performances of the year, which were very successful! We are currently preparing for our fall concert with the Collegium Musicum and our annual holiday concert with the Glee Club, featuring works by Benjamin Britten, Thomas Tallis, and Aaron Copland, among others.

The spring will also be an exciting time for RCS. With the Glee Club, our Junior Parents Weekend concert will feature Ross Lee Finney's beautiful Pilgrim Psalms. Our spring tour will take us to sunny Southern California, where we hope to connect with our wonderful local alumnae, enjoy the lovely scenery, and sing in some fantastic spaces. We have concerts lined up in San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Pasadena/Los Angeles - I hope to see many of you there! Our year will conclude with the Arts First weekend concerts, during which we will perform John Adams's Pulitzer Prize-winning On the Transmigration of Souls and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with combined choirs, the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, and the Boston Children's Chorus. We are all looking forward to what undoubtedly will be a very meaningful experience.

I am very much looking forward to this coming year with RCS, and I hope that you all will join me in supporting our choir in its 112th year. I hope to see many of you this year, whether on tour or in Cambridge, and to be in touch with all of you about the music and memories we create.

Yours,

Molly O'Laughlin '11

President, Radcliffe Choral Society

Members of the Radcliffe Choral Society, with Assistant Conductor Beth Willer and accompanist John Sullivan, at the 2010 Sing-in for welcoming new members.

Spring 2011 Tour Announcement

RCS is excited to be bringing our music to Southern California in spring 2011! From March 11th to 20th, we will be traveling to and performing in San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles. The tour will include five concerts, and among them is a special joint performance with the Los Angeles Children's Choir. This tour will undoubtedly be a fabulous way to get to know Andy and will be one of the highlights of our spring semester!

We look forward to the opportunity to connect with our alumnae in Southern California. Almunae living in the area should look out for more information to come regarding our tour schedule and alumnae receptions in tour cities. For those willing to help host students or be otherwise involved in tour planning, please get in touch with me at mmorris@fas.harvard.edu. I look forward to hearing from you.

Marlee MorrisTour Manager, 2011

Save the Date: Concert and Reception on October 30

The Radcliffe Choral Society will kick off its 2010-2011 concert season on October 30 with Elegance & Exuberance: Classics of Tudor England and New American Music. This concert, conducted by Andrew Clark, will feature Benjamin Britten's Missa Brevis, as well as music by Tallis, Byrd, Copland, and others. Special seating is available for RCS alumnae who would like to sit together (for alumnae seating, ask an usher), and all alumnae are invited to attend a reception in Holden Chapel following the concert, where they will have the opportunity to meet the conductor and current singers.

The concert will take place Saturday, October 30, 8:00 PM in Sanders Theater. Tickets are $20 and will become available for purchase soon through the Harvard Box Office. Please see this page for a complete schedule of the Radcliffe Choral Society's 2010-2011 concert season.

Fall Retreat, Hingham, MA

Every September, the Radcliffe Choral Society and the Harvard Glee Club journey to Hingham, Massachusetts for a weekend of singing and bonding that will set the tone for the year to come. This year's retreat - the Choral Society's first retreat with new Director of Choral Activities, Andrew Clark - was, as in past years, a great success. RCS spent many hours preparing new repertoire, including O Gloriosa Dominaby William Byrd and several of the PilgrimPsalms by Ross Lee Finney, which they performed for the congregations of First Baptist Church and Old Ship Church on Sunday morning. When they weren't singing, RCSers new and old grew closer while participating in retreat traditions that include a scavenger hunt around Hingham, the naming of Big Sister/Little Sister pairs, and the RCS Bead Ceremony.